Twigs and Berries

Pancakes, Darling.

2011-09-09T16:25:00.002-05:00

I recently had a few health problems which caused me to be home-bound for a couple of weeks. Having my mom's cooking with blueberry pancakes and real maple syrup.. Let's just say it made passing the days on the couch much more lovely and comforting.

Fourth of July Glitter Hairpin

2011-07-01T10:34:00.008-05:00

The Inspiration:

Via: Delightfully Engaged
Made by: Giant Dwarf
(Way beautiful. And I can only imagine how much the German glass glitter sparkles!)

I wanted something sparkley to wear in my hair for Fourth of July.. Somewhere at the crossroads between vintage and the Statue of Liberty.

Directions:

Happy Fourth, Darlings.

Embroidery Hoop Earring Holder

2011-06-30T14:22:00.003-05:00

I've got several of these 12" embroidery hoops I picked up a garage sale a year old. I've been waiting for just the right thing to do with them. (read: Moving them around from storage place to storage place.) Yesterday, I happen to think that they would make perfect earring holders.

Use a little bit of tape to help hold the baker's twine between the two hoops. Be sure to twist the larger hoop as tight as you can get it. I also made a second one using lace instead of twine to secure smaller earrings with backings to the lace. Charming and easy and free.

Vintage Summertime

2011-06-30T11:49:00.002-05:00

Pinned: here.

Handmade cards for the Desert Lumberjack

2011-06-29T13:37:00.004-05:00

Vintage: photo, puzzle card, grocery stamps, theater tickets.

This is the most recent card I made for my very dear friend, who sends me packages with stickers on them from the desert of Arizona. The only real-life mail I get at the house happens to be bills. So you can imagine my delight at a whole bundle of scrapbook papers sitting patiently in the mailbox waiting for me to come home. This is why I make him cards with actual vintage photos of dashing men standing next to castle walls.

Shreveport Farmers' Market

2011-06-27T13:46:00.003-05:00

I had a wonderful time this past Saturday at the Farmers' Market. I think I've finally gotten my table set up just the way I had imagined. I'll be switching gears though to concentrate more on the Etsy shop now that my weekends at SFM are now over. [But I'll definitely be dropping by for the next few weekends to pick the necessities like tomatoes, watermelons, and peach wine!]

Craft table

2011-06-21T09:54:00.003-05:00

Blueberry Moon Wine + Organized Choas = Craft table in preparation for Shreveport Farmer's Market this Saturday Morning.

Father's Day: Vintage Handmade Cade

2011-06-20T12:34:00.005-05:00

handwritten caption on the back of photo: On the golf course. Sept 1929. Father taking his daughter for a walk.

After accquiring a stack of vintage photos, they are by far my favorite new item to make cards with. I've also begun using found vintage pages as background and layering papers to add to the cards. This card in particular includes the vintage photo, puzzle card, and text page from an old book.

Shreveport Farmers' Market

2011-06-16T14:35:00.002-05:00

Special thanks to Kathryn Usher for the photo of my booth at Shreveport Farmers' Market on June 11th, 2011.

"All is well. You did not come here to fix a broken world. The world is not broken. You came here to live a wonderful life. And if you can learn to relax a little and let it all in, you will begin to see the universe present you with all that you have asked for." -Ester Abraham-Hicks

To learning to letting it all in..

Phoenix Comicon - Steampunk!

2011-05-31T11:50:00.002-05:00

I officially sold out of my steampunk cards at Comicon! Woot!

Steampunk cards at Phoenix Comicon

2011-05-25T15:52:00.004-05:00

I'm honored to be included in the SpaceBoy Robot booth at this year's Phoenix Comicon. These are just a few of the steampunk cards I've been working on here lately. I simply love the juxtaposition of the gears and knobs with the lace and top hats. Just divine. It's definitely a combo I'd like to get used to pairing together.

The journey to finding one's self again.

2011-05-25T10:10:00.001-05:00

Untitled from Vivian McMaster on Vimeo.

Such a simple, honest truth

2011-05-24T16:21:00.003-05:00

Via: Roots of She

What the world needs.. is more picnics.

2011-05-23T15:02:00.004-05:00

Via: Bombshell Bettie

Via: Pandora

Via: Kitschy Living

Vintage-Inspired Wedding Card

2011-05-09T14:40:00.004-05:00

With spring in the air, wedding season is soon upon us. I finished up this card yesterday for an upcoming wedding that happens to have a vintage theme.

I'll be changing gears (literally) this week, while working on some Steampunk cards for Phoenix Comic Con coming up in a couple of weeks. Spaceboy Jordo will be selling his incredible robots there for the event and has offered to have my cards share the table. While I won't be in attendance.. my steampunk handmade cards will be!

Shreveport Maker's Faire Recap

2011-05-02T14:17:00.012-05:00

A lovely day for a craft faire and a wonderful mix of people. Sicilian mint tea, vegetable curry, homemade marshmallows, cake pops, lots of jewelry, paintings, people with puppies.. Altogether a wonderful way to spend the day with family and friends. I sold about half my cards and came home with a new painting, earrings, hair barrettes, and a bracelett made from a vintage tapemeasure. I'm completely exhausted from the weekend, but incredibly satisfied.

2 days til Shreveport Makers Faire

2011-04-28T09:19:00.004-05:00

Adding: Last minute touches to cards.

Packaging: 48 handmade cards

Whistling while I work to: Pokey LaFarge

Kitschy Easter.

2011-04-25T15:08:00.007-05:00

I believe in celebrating holidays with friends, wine, craft projects, and weiner dogs. And so it was done this last week to the fullest.

Shreveport Makers' Faire. Book the Date, Darlings.

2011-04-18T14:56:00.002-05:00

For the Love of Mason Jars

2011-04-15T09:05:00.015-05:00

The lovely tinted antique Ball Mason jar was a gift from my mom last winter. There is such a subtle southern charm about Mason jars. I have memories as a child of collecting lightning bugs and lady bugs in the summer in canning jars with holes in the top.

Have a few laying around? Here's a list of jar ideas to spark some inspiration:

Hanging lanterns from wooden fences or trees.

Craft Magazine easy terrarium. Lovin' the lil deer.

Storage for those vintage buttons you've been hording.

Blind Tiger serves one serious long island in Mason jars. Hello Happiness.

Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond totally gets the beauty of a Mason Jar.

Carnival

2011-04-13T11:50:00.010-05:00

Everything being a constant carnival, there is no carnival left. -Victor Hugo

There is something so enchanting about old carnivals and sideshows. Almost an eerie romanticism. If you take a flip through some of the pictures of the abandoned Six Flags amusement park in New Orleans, you'll get a feel of that decaying, old world charm. As if you can hear distant laughter in the wind. I'd love to spend a late afternoon there taking pictures. Until that time comes, I'm looking forward to seeing Water for Elephants coming out next week.

Leopard Print

2011-04-08T14:50:00.003-05:00

My vacation inspiration for my swimsuit this summer.

(Large wild cat is totally optional.)

Sweet Summer Day Dreams

2011-04-08T13:45:00.009-05:00

Warm salty breezes. Oversized sunglasses. Cool foamy ocean waves. Wide-brimmed sun hats. Summer vacation cannot come soon enough...

In keeping with the vintage summertime theme, I put out a picture of my great grandmother on the northeast coast enjoying the beach with my grandfather. Check on the ruffles on that bikini!

This week..

2011-04-01T09:22:00.005-05:00

Making: Paper rosettes for the cards.

Decorating: My great grandmother's porceline light switches.

Celebrating: Springtime with gorgeous tulips and bunnies with Frida Kahlo eyebrows.

Allen Ginsberg Tattoo

2011-03-30T12:40:00.011-05:00

a special thank you to the incredibly talented Justin Clark for his work.

As a teenager when I was first exposed to Allen Ginsberg's poems, I never knew poetry could be so emotionally raw and lovely and vulgar and sexual and radical and politcal all at the same time. Through reading his poetry, I felt less isolated and in ways, freedom to be able to express and revel in who I was and the everyday life I lived. There was liberation in writing, in activism, in celebration, in poetry, in sunflowers down by the railyard. By showing me the beauty in reflecting the realities of life, he taught me new ways of writing to express what I longed to be able to communicate. With wide, grateful eyes, I'll forever look up to him as my literary father.

Song by Allen Ginsberg, Published in Howl and Other Poems, 1956

Kitchen Dreams.

2011-03-29T09:27:00.004-05:00

It would literally be like baking in a dollhouse kitchen. I *might* have squealed out loud when I saw the pictures.

Most days..

2011-03-25T09:26:00.011-05:00

At least once a day, I day dream about vintage dresses paired with matching hat and heels.

Everyday, I snuggle with 2 very stubborn, tiny brown dachshund babies who demand to be fed biscuits.

Every couple of days, I bookmark a craft idea to add to the never-ending list of someday craft projects.

Here lately, I've been surrounding myself with and decorating the apt with vintage photographs of women. And it has indeed trickled into my style of cards I've been making.

At least once a week, my body demands to be fed chips and salsa. It is a fact, and I don't question it.

C'est la vie.

Shreveport Makers' Fair

2011-03-24T17:29:00.006-05:00

I've officially become a card making lil factory in preparation for the upcoming Makers' Fair in Shreveport on April 30th. These are some I did a few months ago, and now I'm working on incorporating more of a very feminine vintage style to them. More images to come soon!

"The line between a decorative object and a work of art is a matter of critical judgement." Marlene Fitzgerald-Moore

Peanut Butter Popcorn.

2011-03-24T15:53:00.003-05:00

Prepare yourself. From this moment on, all other plain ordinary popcorn will taste like sawdust next to this.

Cue the heavenly white lights and singing angels. Peanut. Butter. Popcorn. This recipe has been in my Cut-Out-And-Keep cookbook since 2008 and it still wows people. To give credit where credit is due, you may find it here over at Apartment Therapy's The Kitchn. (Which if you don't already follow those 2 blogs, quickly add them to your Blog Reader, and pretend like you've been following them for years with the rest of the internet. Go on.)

Peanut Butter Popcorn
Ingredients:
1/4 cup popcorn kernels
Vegetable oil
Fine salt
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Pop your popcorn and fish out any kernels that didn't pop so you don't injure yourself later. Lightly salt. On the stovetop, combine the sugar and honey and cook until it starts to boil. Let it boil for just a couple of minutes. Pull off the heat and add the peanut butter and vanilla. Pour the mixture over the popcorn to coat it.

The texture is like peanut butter fudge goes to the movies. Some of the time I'll add more popcorn to the mixture to thin it out. Other times, I'll follow the recipe and just let it be decacent.

Oh and a quick tip: For super easy microwave popcorn, I use Alton Brown's way of popping it in the microwave in a brown paper bag, minus the seasoning for this recipe though.

Happy Springtime Darlings.

2011-03-23T15:37:00.004-05:00

Last weekend I took to decorating the mantel in celebration of Springtime. It's now finally pleasant to walk the doxies or even walk to the nearby diner for breakfast with the sound of the local college's churchbells chiming. There's something so pure and uplifting about the coming of spring. I'm flooded with childhood memories of standing in front of blooming azalea bushes in handmade Easter dresses fluffed with layer upon layer of ruffles.

To make the super easy egg garland above, you literally only need a 10-12 plastic eggs and some baker's twine. Family Chic has directions over on her blog. I picked mine up from Target in their dollar section and had an instant Easter garland in a matter of seconds.

Now if only springtime would only come with all the pleasantries of nice weather sans the mosquitos.

Sunshine.

2011-03-18T16:08:00.003-05:00

I've gotten back into journaling more in the last few months. I go through phases where it becomes a means of working through what's dwelling inside me. Sometimes it filters out and brings to the surface what I could have reached by no other medium, not speaking, creating, or even typing. I'm more than ready to find my center again and let the sunshine back in.

Trust.

2011-03-16T16:00:00.003-05:00

Anew.

2011-02-25T12:29:00.003-06:00

We live in a breakable takeable world. An ever available possible world. -Ani Difranco

It’s been 6 months since I’ve updated the last time. Since then, I’ve patched up, sewn together, packed, unpacked, packed, and yet again unpacked, dusted off, breathed in, and have started anew. Through it all, I continue to hold on hope.

Nothing but Vegetables?

2010-08-27T15:29:00.005-05:00

A vegetable garden in the beginning looks so promising and then after all little by little it grows nothing but vegetables, nothing, nothing but vegetables.

–Gertrude Stein

I haven't always been a veg freak.. Growing up I never strayed too far from corn and potatoes. But since becoming a Pescetarian 6 1/2 years ago, I had to teach myself not only to eat the veggies I feared growing up, but how to prepare and cook them. Which is where my deep appreciation of food, cooking, and baking began to blossom. So why bother becoming a veg in the first place, you're thinking to yourself? My reasoning is simple: I couldn't fathom why a living, breathing, mothering, emotion-feeling animal had to die in order for me to have lunch. Now, while I won't force my beliefs on those around me.. (ok, I try not to), I will on the other hand force my vegetable cooking on those around me.

You probably cringed, right? Zucchini bread? But anyone who loves a slice of carrot cake or spice cake, this is right up their alley. Except with summer squash. It was insanely good and devoured slice by slice for breakfast the whole week.

You'll find the recipe here. And please note it has 2,479 reviews with a 5 star rating and 74,000 people have saved the recipe. It's hard to dismiss the tried-and-true recipes. Why recreate the wheel, when there's already a fantastic zucchini bread recipe?

Let's blow this popsicle stand. or not.

2010-08-25T10:27:00.014-05:00

Summers tend to feed trends. Several years ago, it was cupcakes. Literally everywhere. Popping up in restaurants, bakeries devoted to them, booths at farmers' markets.. you name it. From the looks of the food blogs this summer, a rising star is coming up in the distance from New Orleans, Tennessee, DC. Popsicles! Seriously, even the Washington Post has taken notice.

We're not talking about the Americana, sappy sweet, kid-friendly Bomb Pop either. I'm talking about those flavors you read and then think, "Really? That's a creative combo!" Like ginger-mango, cucumber-jalapeno, watermelon-black pepper, avocado, green tea, Tecate beer.. Curious, aren't you?

I decided to throw my hand in the mix with a few of my favorite flavors. Last month I picked up a thai basil plant from the Farmers' Market and have been waiting for just the right reason to pluck a few leaves. Give your own a try. You can pick up a mold from literally anywhere right now (Target, IKEA, Michael's crafts).

Basil Peach Frozen Pops

Ingredients:

few basil leaves

1/2 c sugar

1 c water

1 1/2 c peach puree / nectar

1 tbls lemon juice

3 tbls yogurt

In a small sauce pan bring water and sugar to a boil. Feel free to adjust the simple syrup ratio to suit how sweet you want your popsicles. Drop in basil leaves. Let boil for a couple of minutes. Cut the heat and fish out with a spoon your basil leaves. Let the syrup cool for a few minutes. Add the syrup to your peach puree (which I will admit was store bought. Check the juice aisle at the grocery store). Next add the lemon juice and yogurt. Stir to combine. I had trouble getting the yogurt to incorporate and not just float on top, so I used my immulsion blender. You're more than welcome to use a regular blender to combine everything. Then pour into popsicle molds or ice cube trays with popsicle sticks. Use what's on hand. Freeze anywhere from several hours to overnight. Run under hot water for a minute, if you have trouble getting the molds to let go of your hard-earned homemade treat. Enjoy, Darlings.

I heart Rhetoric

2010-08-17T15:45:00.011-05:00

-Do we know each other?
-Why? Do you think we're going to?
-I don't know. How would I know?
-Because I already know an awful lot of people. And until one of them dies, I couldn't possibly meet anyone else.
-Well if anyone goes on the critical list, let me know.
-Quitter.

I'm shamelessly infatuated with language and the art of conversation. I blame it on my childhood upbringing with old movies. Without special effects to hold the attention of modern day moviegoers, classic movies relied on the script, the actors, and my favorite, the dialog. Which is why even living in the south, coming up on 27 years, I still pronounce the ending to my words while speaking. And also why all of my text messages are a paragraph long and will always spell out the entire word "you." Nonetheless, enjoy the video and tell me you wouldn't want to make snarky comments at Cary Grant while wearing sunglasses on a ski resort.

This Old Home

2010-08-13T12:45:00.019-05:00

After a few months of waiting, couple weeks of painting the apartment from top to bottom, and several trips to the 3 different places where our belongings were stored, we're finally moved in and unpacked. There's such a sense of relief, feeling as if I have found home for the time being.

Our one bedroom, shot-gun style 1920s duplex is just up our alley. Bold in color, warm, kitchy. I can't help but think of the countless tenants over the past 90 years who have sat on the front porch playing dominos in the humid summer evenings and have baked cakes in our kitchen with the sweet smell of homemade goodness lingering. The laughter that has echoed from the high ceilings.. the lovers, the children, the women in high-heeled shoes clicking across the hardwood floors, the bachelors headed out for a night with the boys downtown, the forgotten who have passed through our doorways.. Their memories created in our home are in the air we breathe. And it's warming and inviting to know we're now apart of this house's story.

Last night I baked a version of Mark Bittman's banana bread and nibbled on it while I caught up about my grandfather's vacation over the phone. One night in the series of countless nights and conversations and baked goods in our very old, very cozy home.

Feel free to whip up your own banana bread using this version of the recipe. I opted for only all purpose flour, added blueberries instead of the coconut, sprinkled the top with a crumble of flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter before baking. Enjoy darlings, and make it your own.

Hometown Vacationing

2010-08-03T15:49:00.027-05:00

Sometimes there's just no need to leave the city. Sometimes the vacation comes to you, your home, and your hometown. In my case, Vacation visits in the form of my 2 favorite desert boys. With a week off, the sister cities were at our disposal.

Was there sweet tea? Why yes. How about margaritas? Of course. Cookout with neighbors, shop family, and friends? Indeed. Vintage shopping? Check. An alien head shaped cantalope from the farmers' market? We devoured half that monster. More puppy-dogs than humans? Sometimes. One long fabulous night being trainwrecks at the bar with vodka tonics, dancing, and fresh blueberry pancakes... This is how we roll.

[thank you to Marcos for the fancy-schmancy iphone pics.]

Hummus!

2010-04-13T17:44:00.007-05:00

This is the recipe which your food processor was created for. And for those few non-foodies who don't own a food processor, your pita bread will suffer if you don't get one.. (or date someone who does. Compromise.)

Becoming a vegetarian, this was one of those staples I had to learn to create for myself. After digging through large stacks of veggie cookbooks with expensive and obscure ingredients in the recipe, I came across hummus.

Chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, cumin, salt, pepper, tahini... Tahini?! What the.. is tahini? After a lil googling and a trip to the health food store, I soon discovered tahini is a seasame paste which comes in a tiny lil bottle for $5. hmm.. Quite frankly I had no idea what I was going to do with the rest of the jar of this beige seed butter besides let it sit in the frig for the next 9 months. Eh, how important could it be really? So ever since then, my recipe has never included tahini. It gives a lil more flavor to traditional hummus, but in my book it just tastes kinda chalky. Why bother with it.

After several tweaks along the way.. less garlic.. lil more lemon and cumin. This is my tried and true hummus recipe. Use it at your next party or for your weekday lunches.

Hummus! (yes it deserves an exclamation mark.)

Ingredients:

1 can of chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans)
1 clove of garlic, chopped
4 tbls lemon juice
3 tbls olive oil
1 1/2 tsp cumin
pinch of both salt and fresh ground pepper

Directions:

Drain all but just a lil of the liquid from the can of chickpeas. Pour the can of beans and liquid into a food processor. Now process until creamy. The lil bit of liquid will help the beans become mashed smoothly. Remove processor lid and add the chopped garlic and lemon juice. Process. If your food processor has an oil drip opening, add the olive oil one tablespoon at a time into the food process while it is on. Allow it to drip slowly into the mixture. (If you do not have this lil opening in the lid, then remove the lid, add one tbls of oil olive, close lid, and process. Repeat for the remaining 2 tbls.) After olive oil is incorporated, add cumin, salt and pepper. Process one last time to mix.

Now enjoy with fresh veggies, feta, and pita bread. Or add to sandwiches. Throw in some greek olives and drizzle olive oil over the top and serve with pita chips. Possibilities are endless.

Chipolte Sweet Potato Soup

2010-01-29T15:42:00.008-06:00

Winter is lingering. And not just lingering, it has stomped its foot and folded its arms and is not moving on. *sigh* For a Louisiana lady, that's just not tolerable. So, in order to fight back, I make soup. And not just any soup, but a TexMex kicked-up root vegetable soup with a side of beer bread.

Inspired by Homesick Texan's recipe for Chipolte Sweet Potato Soup, I created my own. (Mostly for the fact I forgot to printout the recipe and because this lil woman wasn't going back out in the cold for celery. So not happening.) Be sure to peruse through Homesick Texan's blog. It is seriously fabulous especially for southerners. Check out the biscuits, rice and beans, stacked enchiladas, and Texas sheet cake and tell me you don't want to be neighbors with that woman.

For something hardy along with your soup, whip up a loaf of Beer Bread. I'm telling you, you probably have everything you need for homemade bread in your pantry and frig. Plus you don't have to wait for it to rise. Bonus!

My Chipolte Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:
one large sweet potato - peeled and diced
half an onion - diced
2 carrots - peeled and diced
1 tbsp butter or extra virgin olive oil
one can of vegetable stock
one chipolte pepper - diced (if you're daring, go right ahead and add some of the adobo sauce from the canned chipolte peppers)
1/2 - 3/4 can of beer - your choice
squeeze of lime juice
pinch of sugar
salt
fresh ground pepper

Recipe:
Melt your butter and saute the onions and carrots. Add a pinch of salt. Once onions start to become translucent, add your sweet potato and can of veggie stock. Simmer until potatoes begin to get a lil soft. Add your chipotle pepper and beer (or more veg stock if you like. I only had one can in the pantry, so I went with the beer instead of water. Why water your soup down when you can add more favor with something else?) Simmer just a lil longer. Remove from stove. Place your emulsion blender down into the soup and puree until smooth. You can also add the soup to a regular blender if you don't own a hand-held one. Squeeze a wedge of lime into the soup. Add a lil more salt to taste, a pinch of sugar, and couple turns of your pepper grinder.

Stir and serve and ignore winter going on outside.

Kitchen Day Dreams

2010-01-26T16:23:00.006-06:00

image from: Flickr user Holly Abston

Some people dream of cars.. European vacations and retiring somewhere on the ocean. But in all honesty, I day dream of kitchens.

The edges of my visions become blurred with cafe curtains, ceramic tiles, and Chambers stoves. My kitchen window cracked open to afternoon breezes. The worn kitchen table, sturdy and heavy, with knife carvings from years passed, set with a bowl of fresh cherries and Ruston peaches, and a pot of hot Louisiana chicory coffee centered on a crocheted potholder. It'll be a place of peace. Of conversation. Of gathering and laughter. A sense of home at the beginning and end to every day.

Deep Dish It Out

2010-01-21T09:33:00.013-06:00

There's a small, minute chance I can occasionally be a food snob.. But I have to admit, when it comes to pizza, all bets are off. Frozen? yes. Delivered? yes. Homemade? totally. Grilled? for another blog entry, folks. From a wood-burning brick oven? The pizza to end all others. (see the previous post.)

There was still one I hadn't tried up until my trip to Arizona last fall with Jordan. Deep dish. Which also happens to be one of Jordan's favorites to make. And in a round casserole dish at that too! I know, right?! Here I thought I needed some heavy duty tall metal pan. Nope.

What you'll need:
glass casserole dish
extra virgin olive oil
pizza dough (homemade, canned, or brought from yr favorite pizza joint)
sauce (homemade, canned, or jarred)
favorite pizza toppings (spinach, fake "sausage", mushrooms, etc)
mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese
Italian seasoning

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Oil the inside of your dish with evoo. Press the dough into the dish covering the bottom and up the sides until about an inch or 2 from the top, giving it room to rise. Cover the bottom with toppings. Here I used crumbled Morningstar sausage. Add both your cheeses. (According to Jordan, it's all about the cheese. So don't be shy with it, Darlings.) Next, spoon your sauce over the top. Create a whole layer of it. Don't worry about it being too much. The cheese and toppings form a barrier and will hold the majority of it on top of the pizza. Next sprinkle another layer of cheese to top it off. Lightly brush the edge of the crust with evoo and sprinkle with Italian seasonings. Pop into a hot oven for roughly half an hour. Enjoy!

Pane Bianco and Sandwich Love

2009-12-17T15:36:00.005-06:00

So there's the sandwich you throw together with whatever happens to be lingering in the frig.. And then there the sandwich which centers your soul and reminds of how good life is and how blessed I am to have hands to get this magnificent sandwich into my mouth. Yes, that kind of sandwich.

It's fall in Phoenix. The summer heat has finally broken and a gentle breeze graces the mountain valley creating the perfect blue sky vacation day. I've flown in to visit with Jordan for a week in the desert city he now calls home. It's been several days later. We've been all over the city enjoying the eats and drinks, deep dish pizzas, wines, par-baked cookies with ice cream, wraps from cafes.

And then we arrive as Pane Bianco. It's small. Rustic. Simple. Stripped to the basics with a slight old market flare. There's a black chalkboard with the day's specials. 2 young women in aprons take orders. And behind them, men are kneading dough to be baked in the wood-burning oven.

At which time, I realize I'll give the shoes off on my feet, to be able to have a sandwich on that bread. Take them.. They're yours.

Jordan and I order. Sandwiches and glass bottled soda. We wait. Our order is called. Outside there's a lil space left on one of the wooden picnic tables.

It was there I had the best sandwich of my life. Tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, salt, and pepper on bread baked just yards from where we sat. Wrapped in parchment paper, sipping a ginger soda, in the cool shade of the porch there with Jordan, Life itself was good.

I'll be eighty years old and think of that sandwich in Phoenix with someone I love sitting across from me in the desert valley outside Pane Bianco, and my heart will be happy.

[photos courtesy Pane Bianco and Serious Eats. I was too busy savoring the meal to take pics.]

Gypsy tattoo

2009-11-12T16:16:00.007-06:00

Sometimes we reach those points in our lives where we've overcome, where we look around and realize our world has changed because we willed it to. One year ago my life was in pieces and i was living on my best friend's couch, collecting those pieces of what was my old life and what was to become my new life.

Today I'm in new relationships. With friends. With home. With work. With myself. With my art. I'm creating again. And more. And there's light again in my life. I turned a year older last month and went on a vacation to visit a beautiful, kind and creative friend who breathed new air into me and pushed out the stale bits. I began a new career. And life has taken on direction with me at the wheel.

To honor that, I now have my first large tattoo. A beautiful gypsy to represent finding a sense of home and self wherever I am. To new paths and the wisdom of the traveler. To a sense of family, no matter blood relation. To new vivid color in my life.

Many thanks to the incredible and insanely talented James Clements for his beautiful work and patience.

One Blue Shaved Teddy Bear

2009-10-05T16:57:00.005-05:00

I tried out yet another new crafting accessory, Fun Flock. The lil jar of fluff looks and feels like someone bottled the hair of a shaved teddy bear. It adds texture and just right amount of fuzz. With a lil Crystal Effects adhesive and pressure, the couch suddenly has soft pillows.

Materials:
stamps and stickers: Close to my heart's Welcome Home set
adhesive: Stampin Up's Crystal Effects
accessories: CTMH's brads, Fun Flock in blue

Teal and Red Intervention

2009-09-24T19:14:00.009-05:00

Some people drink.. some buy shoes.. I have overloaded my love of the blue/teal and red combo. It's exploded over my bedroom somehow. And last night as I'm sitting at my teal and red craft table eating a cupcake (read: inhaling into my face), it dawns on me that the cupcake matches my room. yes, yes it does.

Your visual aids, darlings:

--The baked good, charmingly named, Ruby Slipper--

--My room--

Yes, the walls are also teal, the exact color of my quilt. Thankfully, I'm not the only color combo obsessed lady either. Appears that there's an entire Flickr group dedicated to Turquoise and Red.

And quoting Rizzo from Grease, "There are worse things I could do.. "

p.s. Thank you-s to the Meximan and Bi-man for the insanely great cupcake.

Hello Chocolate

2009-09-16T13:22:00.004-05:00

Growing up, my favorite thing to bake once I started cooking was brownies. At home with my mom, typically we used the brownie recipe on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa container. With my Granny, it the blue and white bag mix of Martha White brownies.

After coming across Inside a Black Apple's extremely easy recipe for brownies.. I knew I'd found a keeper. It's simple, pure, and no fuss. One pot, one baking pan, and half an hour later, there's gooey chocolate goodness.

Super Simple Brownies
Adopted from Inside a Black Apple's Blog

1 stick butter (8 tbsp)
1/2 c Brown Sugar
1 c White Sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 c flour
1/2 c cocoa
Pinch salt
Tbsp Vanilla

1. Preheat Oven to 350
2. Melt butter in pot over stove
3. Remove butter from heat, let cool about a minute, then add sugars. Mix well.
4. Add eggs, flour, cocoa, salt, and generous tablespoon-splash of vanilla, and mix well.
5. Line baking dish with parchment, pour in batter, and pop in oven.
6. Bake 20-25 minutes, I test with a knife in the center and remove when only a few little crumbs cling to the knife.
7. Cool one hour or overnight.

Conehead

2009-09-15T16:50:00.004-05:00

After getting fixed, my youngest Wiener dog has had issues. Which come to find out after 2 follow-up visits and pitching a fit over the phone at the vet, has all been due to miscommunication in the form of lack of information. He's healing fine, just slowly.. even 3 months later.

I realize i'm over protective when it comes to my lil dogs.. But at the end of a long workday, curling up into bed with one pup on either side of me, I can rest and be thankful for their sweet company.

photo taken by Numero Uno

Didn't someone promise me cookies?

2009-09-10T17:12:00.005-05:00

I do so very much enjoy baking. But to be quite frank, it's hard to get the balance of baked goods just right. Is it cooked all the way without being raw-gooey, but just the right gooey without being overcooked and dry? And are these cookies/cake/brownies going to be crumbly and crunchy tomorrow when they're no longer warm?

Pioneer Woman of Pioneer Woman Cooks blog has started a new recipe website called Tasty Kitchen. And in this delightful website I found these gems, Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies. Brace yourself. With 2 whole mashed bananas in the recipe, these babies stay moist and chewy and wonderful until you gobble literally all of them.

The recipe is awesome. But I would recommend a few changes.. Use a whole bag of chocolate chips. It's ok. Trust me. And consider letting the dough rest in a tightly sealed tubberware container overnight in the frig for more a prodominent banana flavor.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adopted from Mmmgoodeats on Tasty Kitchen Blog
makes 36 cookies

1 cup Margarine

1 cup Sugar

2 whole Bananas

1 whole Egg

3-¼ cups Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

½ teaspoons Cinnamon

½ teaspoons Salt

1 bag of Milk Chocolate Chips

Cream together margarine & sugar. Add mashed bananas & egg. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon & salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the banana mixture & mix well. Add the rest of the flour & mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.

(This is where I seal up the dough the frig, to let the flavors blend together a lil.)

Scoop onto cookies sheets using a medium scoop. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until the edges start to brown. Scoop off the cookie sheet and onto cooling racks. Seal up in containers once cooled to remain fresh and soft.

Gyspy Soul

2009-09-09T17:02:00.002-05:00

Every since I left home at the age of 18, I've managed to not live in one place longer than 2 years. Sometimes for brief moments, those places felt like home. Sometimes with the right light from my great grandmother's lamp, a few candles, and music, Home would creep in and spend the night. Unfortunately it's been a long while since I've felt the calm and peace of knowing where you are is where you are supposed to be.

After seeing the photographs Jeanne Bayol took of the gypsy wagons or Les Verdines in France, I felt my heartstrings pull at the sweet romanticism of the nomadic life. Instead of feeling without a permanent base, I should embrace the idea of the openness of the world as home.

Maybe without the sense of permanence, we gain the ability to enjoy what may only be fleeting and transient. Like spring flowers, bold summer tomatoes, iced coffee on the porch.

"'One never reaches home,' she said. 'But where paths that have an affinity for each other intersect, the whole world looks like home, for a time.'"
— Hermann Hesse (Demian)

Puppy Card

2009-09-03T17:02:00.005-05:00

I have to say my expectations were low starting out using the Copic markers.. I've been using water-based stamper markers for years. But after a few times playing with the Copics, I really am sold. Using the blender pen, you can actually erase and blend a lighter color into a darker color. seriously. Who knew you could shade and blend with markers?!

Materials:
Copic markers
stickers
stamp
paper flowers
dew drops

That tiny lil pup reminds me of my two as babies.